Whip-button



' NIIED STATES I HUBERT \V. MORGAN AND CHARLES G. BECKER, OF VVESTFIELD, MASSA- CHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO SAID BECKER, AND FRANCIS D. LOOMIS, CF NE\V HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

WHIP-BUTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 34:3,721,dated June 15, 1886.

Application filed April 23, 1895.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HUBERT W. IVIORGAN and CHARLES G. BECKER, both of Vestfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in VVhip-Buttons, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to the buttons used for the ornamentation of whips; and its object is to produce a cheap, strong, and durable button which is molded or pressed into shape, and is adapted to be forced into place upon the whip, and which will yield to the different flexible movements of the latter, or will bend with the whip as it is bent. into different positions in being used; and we accomplish this by the construction substantially as hereinafter described, and illustrated in the are companying drawings, in which- Figure I is an edge view of a leather blank cut in an annular form from leather stock for making one modification of our invention. Fig. II is a side view showing two of said blanks cemented together to form a buttonblank. Fig. III is an edge view of a leather strip with its ends prepared to be cemented together for making the button from a flat leather strip. Fig. IV is a plan or flat view of the same. Fig. V is an edge view of a whipbutton blank made from a flat strip having its ends cemented together. Fig. VI is a side view of a flexible whip;button molded or pressed into form from an annular leather blank. Fig. VII is a section of the same at' its axis, and Fig. VIII shows the molded or pressed flexible button as applied to a whip.

In the drawings, 2 represents a blank made from leather, which in Figs. I and II is cut in an annular form from a flat piece of leather of the desired thickness. These blanks may be made of any desired width by cementing flat pieces of leather together, and then cutting the annular blanks therefrom, or by cutting the rings from the leather stock of single thickness, and afterward cementing the rings together to form the blanks; but we prefer the former as being easier and more quickly done.

After the blanks are cut or formed of the desired size, we place them 011 a mandrel, in a lathe, and while the mandrel and the blank Serial No. 163.118. (No'moloh) thereon are revolved rapidly a knurling-tool is held firmly against the blank, which molds or presses it into the desired form or shape, as

shown at 5, and gives its exterior surface any v desired ornamentation at the same time, the knurling-tool having suitable ornamentation made thereon for that purpose. Previous to being rolled or pressed into the desired form, the blanks, or the leather from which they are made, may be filled by applying thereto any desired plastic or liquid substance to fill the pores, and preferably some water-proof substance, as a preparation of liquid shellac or other suitable material, may be applied, to give the leather the desired degree of hardness and body when dry. IVhen prepared in this way, the blanks are very susceptible of receiving and of permanently retaining any desired impression or ornamentation from the formingtool. After being formed the buttons 5 are removed from the mandrel, and may is very apt to get loose by the bending movements of the Whip when being used and get lost. After the buttons are forced into place upon the whip, the buttons, and whip also, if

desired, may have a. coating of any desired finishing-liquid applied.

Instead of cutting or punching the blanks in ring or annular form from the leather stock, we may cut flat strips 3 from the stock of the desired width and length, and cut the ends of the stripbeveled, as shown at 4, so that these beveled ends may be cemented or secured together, and the blank be of uniform thickness \vhenfinished, and this blank so formed may then berolled or pressed into the form of a whip-button, and have the desired ornamentation imparted to it by the forming-tool. We prefer, however, to make the blanks in the form of annular rings by cutting or punching them from the stock in solid annular form, as first mentioned, and as shown in Figs. Iand II.

Instead of using a mandrel and knurlingtool to give the buttons the desired form, we

may place the blank in a mold made in two parts, and give the desired form and ornamentation by forcing the two parts of the mold together against the blank.

These buttons are very cheaply made, as they may be manufactured from ordinary waste-leather stock, and may be given any desired configuration or ornamentation on their outer surface, and may have any desired color imparted thereto, and, being very light, do not add noticeably to the weight of the whip. As they are somewhat stretched when in place on a whip, they retain their position and do not get loosened by the bending movements of the whip, and when made from solid annular rings cut or punched from leather stock, as shown in Fig. I, there is no seam extending across in the direction of the length of the whip, so that they may be forced with a good degree of pressure into place upon the whip, and will not be liable to break.

Buttons which are formed by platting or braiding thread and similar material, either upon a rigid blank or upon the whip itself, are liable to soon fray out by the thread getting loose. Ourinvention entirely avoids this objection, as these buttons made from leather will wear as long as the whip will last. They may be made of any desired width, those of more extended width being made by increas- 3o ing the number of rings cemented together.

\rVe are aware that whip-buttons have heretofore been made by platting or braiding thread and other material upon a hard or wooden blank, and that buttons have been 3 5 wrought directly upon and immovably to the whip with thread and similar material, and we do not claim the same; but we are not aware that a flexible button rolled or pressed into form has ever been made and adapted to be 0 forced into place upon a whip.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new is* As a new article of manufacture, a flexible leather whip-button having its exterior sur- 45- face rolled or pressed into form for ornamenting a whip, substantially as described.

HUBEBT \V. MORGAN. CHARLES G. BECKER. \Vitnesses:

Asa P. RAND, JOHN B. \VELon. 

